There are multiple issues.1. trophy has 4 blades and thus more blade area. Blade area helps to control slip and cavitation.2. Tempest is a larger diameter, but has only 3 blades. Less blade area means less drag, but larger diameter is harder to turn.The hub is run near the surface of the water. So one or two blades is/are always out of the water. The trophy keeps more in the water since it has more blades in the first place. That makes it hold better, blowout less, track better, handle rough water better, etc. The tempest will spend a lot of time with just one blade in the water. If it ventilates due to rough water, you know it. The tempest is more efficient. The best prop is a 1-blader, but the side-loads are so severe nobody uses one. 2 blades are almost as bad as at one instant when they are horizontal, they are out of the water. So the 3-4 blade props rule.Ive seen boats that run faster with a tempest. I have seen other boats where we spent two days on the water and it ran better with the trophy. Including faster top end although this is not that common. Someone mentioned the tempest can be run higher via the jack plate. Thats because of the increased diameter, mainly. And 3 blades gives the prop guys more room to work their magic, where a 4-blade prop starts to get overlap between the blades which reduces efficiency.The bottom line? try em both. You never know. Ideally we would do them just like we do the jack plate. Vary the pitch and diameter and number of blades to find the optimal prop. But that would be a ton of testing with three variables to change.2008 Pantera Classic2014 Mercury Pro XS 200
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